Phoenix Mercury All-Star center Brittney Griner will miss the start of the WNBA season with a broken toe on her left foot.
He Mercury announced his injury on Monday, one day before the start of the WNBA season. She will be reevaluated “in the coming weeks,” according to the team. It is unclear how or when she suffered the injury.
Phoenix opens its season Tuesday against the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces in a nationally televised game on ESPN 2.
Griner, 33, is an eight-time All-Star and the Mercury’s best player. He led the Mercury in points, rebounds and blocks last season, averaging 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 blocks per game.
Griner returned to the Mercury in 2023 after missing the 2022 season while imprisoned in Russia for 294 days. According to the US government, which negotiated a prisoner exchange to bring her home, Griner was “unjustly detained” as a political prisoner under Vladamir Putin’s regime. Russian officials detained Griner after she transported a vape cartridge containing 0.7 grams of THC-laced hash oil to a Russian airport.
Griner spoke publicly in early May for the first time about her incarceration, more than two years after she was detained. She described her horrific prison conditions and told ABC’s Robin Roberts that she considered taking her own life in the first weeks of her confinement.
After his release, he returned to the league largely to get into shape while also earning his eighth All-Star bid.
Phoenix finished last season at a league-worst 9-31, but enters the 2024 campaign with renewed hope after an offseason makeover. They have a new coach in former Orlando Magic assistant Nate Tibbetts and a new general manager in former Golden State Warriors executive Nick U’Ren.
They traded for three-time All-Star and 2021 Finals MVP Kahleah Copper (18.7 ppg, 44.8% shooting per game in 2022) from the Chicago Sky and signed free agent point guard Natasha Cloud ( 12.7 points per game, 6.2 points per game) of the Washington Mystics to appear alongside Griner and former league MVP Diana Taurasi.
The loss of Griner is a serious blow to the optimism surrounding the start of the season.